Nauru has also received money from Australia under various arrangements. In 1989, Nauru instituted proceedings against Australia in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), claiming that Australia had breached its trusteeship obligations in failing to rehabilitate or pay restitution for the phosphate lands mined during its administration of Nauru. The ICJ issued a decision in 1992 regarding some preliminary objections to the proceedings by Australia. The case came to a halt, however, in September 1993 when the parties informed the ICJ that they had reached a settlement and agreed to discontinue the proceedings. In the settlement, Australia agreed to pay Nauru AU$120 million (about US$97 million) over twenty years, with the first AU$57 million (about US$46 million) to be paid within a year.

The Memorial of the Republic of Nauru submitted to the ICJ includes a detailed history of the phosphate mining during the different colonization periods, including the German mining laws that applied in the early 20th century, and the structures and arrangements related to mining throughout the mandate and trusteeship periods.

Australia is the largest donor of development assistance to Nauru, “contributing approximately 15 per cent of domestic revenue in 2014–15.” In addition, a 2017 article states that:

According to the ADB [Asian Development Bank], direct payments to the Republic of Nauru under the offshore detention regime currently comprise an estimated 28% of Nauru’s domestic revenue. The indirect revenue contribution generated by the Regional Processing Centre (RPC) in construction and services amounts to an estimated 15-20% more, meaning that a good half of Nauru’s revenue currently depends on asylum seeker detention.

Phosphate mining also resumed in the country in 2006, which contributed to a growth in GDP. It is estimated that the secondary phosphate deposits may last another thirty years. A 2016 article points to both the challenges and opportunities for this tiny nation, with ideas for future development including energy projects and mining the limestone pinnacles for different minerals.

Nauru is a fascinating country to learn about. Searching the Library of Congress catalog for items leads to many interesting results, including Nauru 1888-1900: an account in German and English based on official records of the Colonial Section of the German Foreign Office held by the Deutsches Zentralarchiv in Potsdam and Australian reports to the League of Nations regarding its administration of Nauru.

The site of secondary mining of Phosphate rock in Nauru, 2007. Photo by Lorrie Graham, July 5, 2007. Source: Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Flickr page. Used under Creative Commons License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.

Add a Comment

This blog is governed by the general rules of respectful civil discourse. You are fully
responsible for everything that you post. The content of all comments is released into the public domain
unless clearly stated otherwise. The Library of Congress does not control the content posted. Nevertheless,
the Library of Congress may monitor any user-generated content as it chooses and reserves the right to
remove content for any reason whatever, without consent. Gratuitous links to sites are viewed as spam and
may result in removed comments. We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's
privilege to post content on the Library site. Read our
Comment and Posting Policy.

Find the Law Library on:

Disclaimer

This blog does not represent official Library of Congress communications and does not represent legal advice.

Links to external Internet sites on Library of Congress Web pages do not constitute the Library's endorsement of the content of their Web sites or of their policies or products.
Please read our Standard Disclaimer.